B 


•arr,6r. 


EESOLUTIONS  AND  ADDHESS 

OF     THE 

■\7^  Jk.  X5L  S3       COUKFTY" 

WOMING-MEFS  ASSOCIATION. 


nESOLUTIOKTS  : 

At  a  meeting  held  in  the  Court  House,  on  the  J  bers  are  left  perfectly  free  as  heretofore  to  vote  with 


10th  of  October,   1859,  the  following  Resolutions 
were  offered  and  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Mechanics 
and  Working-Men  here  assembled,  that  the  Revenue 
Laws  of  this  State  are  not  framed  in  accordance  with 
tne  principles  of  justice  and  equality ;  that  said  laws 
discriminate  against,  and  operate  most  heavily  upon 
those  who  are  least  able  to  bear  the  burthens  of  the 


such  parties  as  they  may  choose,  and  for  the  men 
of  their  choice. 

Resolved,  That  we  invite  the  cordial  co-operation 
in  this  movement  of  our  fellow  Mechanics,  and 
Working- Men  of  the  State,  and  that  we  will  take 
pleasure  in  corresponding  and  acting  with  them  in 
carrying  out  the  objects  of  this  Association  :  and 
with  this  view  we  respectfully  suggest  to  them  the 


Ci„fo .  „„ a  „i.:i„*. „  i       t&     -u-  e  -i.\.    )  importance  of  forming  Associations   of  a  similar 

fctate;  anu  whilst  we  are  re  lay  n-:a  willing,  as  faith-  J       ^  .  .  e 


ful  and  loyal  citizens,  to  meet  and  defray,  at  all  j 
times,  our  due  proportion  of  the  public  charge  and  \ 
expenditure,  we  nevertheless  have  a  right  to  insist,  \ 
and  we  do  respectfully  insist,  that  these  laws  shall  \ 
he  so  altered  as  to  tax  every  citizen  according  to 
what  he  is  worth.  I 


character  in  their  respective  localities. 

Resolved,  That  all  tne  newspapers  in  this  City  and 
State  friendly  to  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  the 
Working-Men  of  North-Carolina  are  requested  to 
copy  these  Resolutions  and  the  Proceedings  of  this 
Meeting. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  President,  Jno.  R. 


Resolved,    That  we  reject  any  and  every  doctrine  j 

which  favors  class  legislation,  and  that  we  ask  noth-  >  Harrison,  Esq.,  appointed  Quent.  Busbee,  B.  F.  Ben- 

ing  for  ourselves  which  we  would  not  be  disposed  |  ton>  H.  Gorman,  D.  A.  Wicker,  F.  I.  Wilson,  J.  N. 

to  grant  to  others,  if  our  relative  circumstances  were  I  ^,      ,  ■        w  t»  t>  •  j   m  t»  m     l  1ir    T   x 

,  ,  s  Bunting.  W.  B.  Reid,  1.  R.  ientress,  W.  J.  Lougoe, 

changed.  I        ■■ 

r,     ,     ,    __  ■     .,   ,  ,,    ,  )  and  H.  Raby,  a  Committee  to  Report  an  Address  to 

Resolved,    That  it  becomes   the   Mechanics   and  I 

Working-Men  of  North-Carolina,  while  respecting  the  citi*ens  of  tke  State" 

the  rights,  and  interests  of  others,  to  look  also  to  >  Tho  Committee  reported  the  Address  which  fol- 

their  own  rights  and  interests,  and  to  insist  upon  >  lows,. at  an  adjourned  meeting  held  in  the  Court 

that  political  equality  and  that  participation  in  publie  j  House  on.  the  6th  December,  1859,  and  which  was 


affairs  to  which  they  are  entitled  as  freemen. 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  Tea  be  appointed5 
to  prepare  and  publish  an  Address  to  the  people  of 
the  State  setting  forth  more  fully  the  objects  oi  the 
Association  ;  and  lest  by  poss\bilit\T  our  objects  and 
motives  should  be  misconceived  or  misconstrued, 
we  emphatically  announce  that  this  Association  has 
no  connection  with  party  politics,  and  that  its  mem- 


unanimously  adopted  :  Waeyeupon,  it  was 

Ordered,  That  5,000  copies  of  the  same  be  print- 
ed for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Association  ; 
and,  that  the  newspapers  in  the  State  be  requested 
to  publish  the  same. 

JNO.  R.  HARRISON,  President 

S,  M.  Pakish,  Secretary. 


ICC 


t^niwa 


our  fellow-citizen*  of  Nor 'th- Carolina:  I  enough  to  declare  a  few  things,  which  none  of  us 

The  Wake  County  Association  of  Working  ever  desired,  or  intended  should  result  from  the 
Men,  having  embodied  the  objects  of  their  organi-  >  union  we  have,  for  honest  purposes,  entered  into. — ■ 
zation  in  an  address,  submit  the  same  with  bc-com-  j  And  in  ordinary  charity  we  ask  you  to  defer  any 
ing  deference  to  the  serious  attention  of  their  fellow-  )  judgment  of  condemnation  as  to  our  intentions,  un- 
citizens  throughout  the  State.  A  free  interchange  \  til  at  least,  more  convincing  evidence  is  given  you, 
of  thoughts  and  opinions,  especially  upon  subjects  )  than  the  fears  of  a  few,  whose  prophetic  visions 
of  general  concernment,  is  one  of  those  inalienable  ;  discover  dangers  that  never  exist,  and  whose  absence, 
rights  secured  to  every  free  people,  and  invaluable  >  when  real  dangers  and  difficulties  present  themselves, 
to  every  elector  in  a  popular  government  like  our  ;  is  never  satisfactorily/  accounted  for. 
own,  who  desires  to  perform  conscientiously  the  I  It  is,  ihen,  not  oar  object  to  start  any  new  politi- 
duties  devolving  on  each  citizen.  To  deny  this —  )  cal  party  or  organization,  either  upon  this  or  any 
"to  deny  freedom  of  opinion,  and  conformity  of  j  other  platform  ;  or  to  raise  any  issues  as  tests  in  the 
conduct  to  convictions  honestly  entertained,"  in  the  >  selection  of  our  representatives,  or  public  officers, 
language  of  an  eminent  son  of  our  State,  "is  tyrraiaj  j  The  political  parties  now  existing  amongst  us,  we 
in  its  most  odious  form."  In  the  honest  exercise  j  believe  to  be  enough  and  sufficieut  for  the  ends 
then  of  this  privilege,  secured  to  us,  and  every  one,  )  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  their  several  organi- 
by  the  constitution  under  which  we  live,  we  have  ;  zations,  and  it  is  not  our  desire  or  intention  to  dis- 
thought  proper  to  address  3rou  on  a  subject,  in  our  >  turb  them  in  any  respect.  If  we  can,  however, 
opinion  of  great  and  lasting  moment  to  us  all,  beg-  )  succeed  in  impressing  the  mind  of  all  parties  with 
ging  you  at  the  same  time,  to  investigate  it  with  ^  the  fact  that  other  subjects  besides  federal  politics, 
that  calmness  and  serious  deliberation  its  importance  )  local  to  us,  are  of  great  and  lasting  importance,  and 
essentially  demands.  \  as  such  should  claim  at  least  a  portion  of  the  time 

Being  ourselves  satisfactorily  convinced  that  a  and  thoughts  of  those  whom  the  people  look  up  to 
thorough  and  radical  reform  in  the  revenue  system  )  for  guidance,  and  which  should  be  thorough^  in- 
of  the  State  is  loudly  and  urgently  called  for  at  this  \  vestigated  and  dispassionately  considered,  we  shall, 
particular  time,  as  well  by  the  individual  interest  of  >  we  think,  have  doiwmudh  for  the  public  interest, 
every  tax-payer,  as  by  that  future  progress  and  ;  It  is  not  our  object,  emphatically  not,  while  ad- 
prosperity  we  hope  to  see  our  State  make  and  en-  '  vocating  a  just  equalization  of  taxation  so  far  as  the 
joy,  we  have  voluntarily  associated  ourselves  togeth-  ;  same  can  be  effected,  to  array  one  portion  of  our  fel- 
er,  in  the  expectation  of  being  able  to  accomplish  low  citizens  against  another  portion — one  class 
more  to  advance  that  reform,  by  united  effort,  than  >  against  another  class — or,  one  section  against  anoth- 
we  could  possibty  hope  to  do  by  any  individual  ex-  ;  er  section.  The  most  careless  observer  of  what  has 
ertion.  And  if  by  fair  arguments,  b}r  discussion  \  passed  into  history,  and  of  the  events  now  passing 
and  by  the  publication  of  such  facts  and  figures  as  )  in  other  communities — the  merest  beginner  in  the 
are  within  our  reach,  the  whole  subject  of  our  reve-  \  study  of  political  economy,  knows  full  well,  or 
nue  system  should  be  laid  before  the  honest  people  >  ought  to  know,  that  the  antagonism  between  labor 
of  North-Carolina  in  its  proper  lights,  and  all  its  j  and  capital  existing  elsewhere,  can  never  affect  the 
important  bearings,  we  shall  be  contented  with  the  ?  social  condition  to  any  extent,  of  an  agricultural 
result  of  our  efforts,  and  amply  repaid  by  the  bene-  )  community  like  our  own  ■  especially  wb*n  that 
fits  rendered  to  the  community  at  large,  for  any  j  community  has  engrafted  upon  itself  the  conserva- 
time  or  labor  we  may  have  given  in  so  doing.  Hon-  Ktive  element  of  domestic  slaver}'.  With  only  17 
estly  and  fairly  canvassed,  as  we  trust  the  subject  >  persons,  in  1850,  to  the  square  mile, — no  large 
will  be,  we  cheerfully  abide  the  decision  of  every  (  cities — with  a  small  amount  of  capital,  and  that 
conservative  voter  within  our  limits,  who  will  give  )  generally  diffused,  the  most  industrious  and  un- 
the  matter  a  moment's  unprejudiced  consideration,  scrupulous  demagogue  can  never,  with  us,  succeed 
For  we  sincerely  believe  that  the  attention  of  those  >  in  bringing  about  any  estrangement  between  the 
directly  interested,  being  once  directed  to  the  great  )  rich  and  the  poor. 

importance  of  a  change  in  our  revenue  system — a  I  It  is  not  our  object  to  depreciate  by  an}^thing  we 
change  having  as  its  basis  the  principles  of  fairness,  )  do,  the  value  of  any  particular  kind  of  property ; 
justice  and  equality  to  every  one,  our  people  will  \  nor  do  we  desire  any  discrimination  to  be  made  for 
never  permit  the  agitation  of  the  question  to  rest  >  or  against  any  species  of  property.  On  the  con- 
until  the  end  sought  for  is  attained.  \  trary,   the  cardinal  point  of  our  belief  is,   that  an 

To  prevent  the  misrepresentation  that  this  move-  I  unjust  and  oppressive  discrimination  now  exists  in 
ment  of  ours  may  give  rise  to,  and  to  correct  in  the  )  the  principles  of  our  tax  system,  and  for  its  remov- 
beginning  the  erroneous  opinions  entertained,  and  \  al  we  address  you.  We  hold  that  property  of  eve- 
the  groundless  fears  indulged  in  by  some  as  to  the  ?  ry  dc-gcription,  receiving  equal  protection  from  our 
ultimate  objects  ef  ©ur  association,  it  may  fee  well  )  government,  should  contribute,  with,  the  persons 


#!•## 


ADDRESS    OF   THE   WAKE   COUNTY   WORKING-MEN  S    ASSOCIATION. 


terest,  to  pay  a  larger  amount  of  taxes  into  the 
Treasury  than  §248,567,800  worth  of  slave  property. 
Is  there  any  cause  why  §1,000  in  mone}Tat  interest, 
restricted  ly  our  laic  in  its  productiveness  to  $60 
per  annum,  should  be  made  to  pay  $2,40  for  the 
protection  it  enjoys,  while  $1,000  in  slave  property, 
unrestricted  in  its  production,  paid  50  cents,  and 
$1,000  in  land  paid  $1,50?  Under  our  Bill  of 
Rights,  no  man  or  set  of  men  are  entitled  to  exclu- 
sive or  separate  emoluments  or  privileges  from  their 
neighbors,  except  for  good  and  just  reasons.  Why 
cannot  this  just,  fundamental  principle  be  extended 
in  its  application  likewise  to  property,  another  im- 
portant element  constituting  a  State  ? 

Again :  The  profits  of  capital  invested  in  steam 
vessels,  in  stocks  of  any  kind,  in  shares  of  any  in- 
corporated or  trading  company,  whether  in  or  out 
of  the  State,  bonds  of  another  State,  and  bank  divi- 
dends, paid,  in  1858,  $11,643.  This  tax  was  col- 
lected on  about  $290,000  of  profits.  In  1850,  ac- 
cording to  the  last  Census,  there  was  in  North-Car- 
olina more  than  $9,000,000  of  annual  production,  aris- 
ing from  manufactures,  mining  and  mechanic  arts, 
at  a  profit  of  Si  per  cent.,  or  over  $3,000,000.  We 
have  no  data  from  which  to  estimate  the  increase  of 
this  annual  production  since  that  time,  though  we 
know  it  has  been  considerable.  Why  our  legisla- 
tors excepted  this  very  considerable  amount  of  pro- 
fit from  paying  taxes  we  cannot  tell.  If  the  profits 
on  the  annual  production  of  capital  invested  in  va- 
rious ways  is  to  be  taxed,  and  it  surely  ougfat,  why 
not  tax  those  of  all  productive  investments? 

Again :  Under  our  peculiar  system,  and  it  is, 
without  precedent,  peculiar  in  many  respects,  there 
was  paid  into  the  State  Treasury  the  sum  of  $12,379 
by  a  portion  of  the  labor  and  industry  of  our  citi- 
zens. This  tax  on  the  energy,  enterprise  and  brains 
of  the  community,  which  should  receive  in  its  de- 
velopment the  fostering  care  and  protection  of  our 
law-makers  so  far  as  possible,  amounts  to  about  one- 
sixth  of  the  sum  paid,  as  we  have  shown,  by  $248,- 
567,800  worth  of  one  species  of  property.  We  are 
satisfied  that  this  distinctive  feature  in  our  revenue 
S)rstem  is  so  unjustly  oppressive,  so  utterly  subver- 
sive of  every  reasonable  and  established  principle 
of  political  economy,  and  so  openly  at  war  with  the 
best  interests  of  our  State,  that  it  requires  no  ill  us 
tration  in  detail  to  convince  you  that  a  reform  at 
least  in  this  respect  is  imperatively  demanded.  Still, 
that  you  may  more  forcibly  comprehend  its  unjust- 
ness  and  inequality,  let  us  for  a  moment  look  to  its 
operation.  Every  citizen  except  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  our  Judges,  (and  why  exempt  the  latter, 
when  all  other  State  officers  are  taxed?)  whose  an- 
nual income  from  their  labor  is  over  $500,  paid,  as  a 
tax,  1  per  cent,  on  their  respective  receipts.  The 
clerk,  the  doctor,  the  mechanic,  the  lawyer,  the 
overseer,  your  county  officers,  every  one,  though  by 
untiring  industry  and  stinting  economy  they  may 
be  barely  able  to  support  their  families,  paid  into 
the  Treasury  of  the  State  $1  upon  every  $100  re- 
ceived. The  foreman  in  the  workshop,  if  in  the  re- 
ceipt of  $500  as  wages,  paid,  besides  his  poll  tax, 
$5  to  the  sheriff;  while  his  neighbor,  owning  ten 
slave  mechanics  at  work  in  the  same  shop  at  the 


yearly  wages  of  $2,500  or  more,  paid  to  the  Sheriff 
only  $5  and  his  poll  tax.  The  overseer,  with  20 
hands  under  him,  making  for  his  employer  100  bags 
of  cotton,  worth  $5,000,  if  receiving  $600,  paid  $6, 
and  the  employer,  for  that  which  produced  him 
$5,000  paid  $10.  The  employees  of  our  different 
Railroad  Companies  each  pay  1  per  cent,  on  their 
receipts,  if  they  amount  to  $500  ;  the  individual 
stockholders,  though  they  may  receive  6  or  7  per 
cent,  on  their  investment,  amounting  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  a  large  sum,  pay,  with  few  exceptions,  noth- 
ing. The  clerk,  in  the  receipt  of  $700  per  aunum, 
paid  $7  to  the  State;  his  employer,  with  $100,000 
of  State  bonds  in  his  safe,  yielding  him  $6,000  per 
annum,  paid  nothing.  These  illustrations  might  be 
indefinitely  multiplied.  In  1834,  our  Executive,  in 
his  message  to  the  General  Assembly,  reviewing  our 
revenue  system,  remarks  thus  upon  the  inequality 
then  existing: — "The  poll  tax  on  the  day  laborer 
and  the  capitalist  is  precisely  the  same  ;  and  it  some- 
times happens  that  the  latter,  like  the  former,  is 
subject  to  no  other  species  of  contribution.  In  the 
one  case  it  is  an  onerous  imposition  ;  in  the  other,  a 
tax  a  thousand  fold  greater  might  occasion  no  sensi- 
ble inconvenience."  If  in  1834  a  reason  existed  for 
complaining  against  the  inequality  of  the  system, 
how  much  more  have  we  to  complain  of  now,  when 
the  poll  tax,  though  much  increased,  is  but  a  drop 
in  the  bucket,  compared  to  that  assessed  on  our 
labor. 

Again :  The  amount  paid  by  merchants  and  others 
engaged  in  selling  goods,  wares  and  merchandize, 
was  $37,881.  This  sum  was  levied  on  $11,365,000 
of  purchases ;  it  making  no  difference  under  our 
system  whether  the  same  was  ever  sold,  or  ever  re- 
turned to  the  purchasing  dealer  any  profit  or  not. 
This  amount  is  more  than  half  of  that  paid  by 
$248,567,800  worth  of  slaves,  and  nearly  half  as 
much  as  was  paid  by  $31,989,000  of  money  at  inter- 
est. This  $37,881  is  paid,  not  bjr  the  merchants 
themselves,  but,  as  every  one  knows,  by  the  con- 
sumers— a  large  portion  of  whom  are  those  very 
men  who  pay  1  per  cent,  of  their  wages  into  the 
State  Treasury.  Of  this  merchants'  tax,  dealers  in 
ready-made  clothing  paid  1  per  cent,  on  their  pur- 
chases— $10  for  every  $1,000  worth  of  goods  bought. 
Further,  $409,000  (in  round  numbers)  employed 
in  the  purchase — (not  sale)  of  liquors,  paid  $20,448 
tax,  or  5  per  cent,  on  the  amount  bought.  Further 
still,  $384,000  employed  in  bujnng  and  selling 
slaves,  paid  $1,279;  and  $893,000  employed  in 
other  trade,  paid  $1,786.  Upon  what  principle  of 
adjustment  these  various  rates  were  agreed  to  we 
are  unable  to  ascertain.  If  some  were  intended  to 
operate  in  the  nature  of  sumptuary  laws,  we  are  of 
the  humble  opinion  that  our  legislators  did  not  give 
that  time  and  attention  to  the  consideration  of  the 
subject,  demanded  by  its  importance  and  its  ulti- 
mate effects. 

Again:  $1,952,400  worth  of  carriages,  buggies 
and  other  vehicles,  most  of  which  are  as  necessary 
at  this  day  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  our 
citizens,  especially  those  out  of  our  own  towns,  as 
their  sugar  and  coffee  are,  paid  $19,524,  or  1  per 
cent,  on  their  assessed  value,  and  a  greater  sum  than 


ADDRESS    OF   THE   WAKE   COUNTY   WORKING-MEN  S    ASSOCIATION. 


was  paid  on  $11,766,710  of  town  property.  Fur- 
ther, 2,150  pianos,  certainly  as  much  an  article  of 
luxury  as  the  buggy  of  the  farmer  which  conveys 
his  wife  to  church,  paid  $3,225,  or  f  of  1  per  cent. 
on  the  cost,  estimating  that  cost  at  $200  each. 

These  palpable  and  unreasonable  inconsistencies 
and  unjust  discriminations  might  be  multiplied,  un- 
til every  source  from  which  our  revenue  is  derived 
would,  in  the  illustration,  be  exhausted.  The  lim- 
its of  this  address  and  your  patience  forbid  any  fur- 
ther details.  To  more  fully  substantiate  the  just- 
ness of  our  complaint,  we  will  repeat  the  rates  as 
above  exemplified.  Under  the  tax  bill  of  1856-7 — 
$1,000  worth  of  land  paid  $150 

1,0110         "        slaves  "  50 

1,000  in  money  loaned  paid  2  40 

1,000  of  dividend  and  profit  paid  2  40 

1,000  in  labor  and  industry     "  10  00 

1,000  "  goods  purchased  "  3  33 

1,000  "  clothing      "  "  10  00 

1,000  "  liquors         "  "  55  00 

1,000  of  capital  in  buying  slaves,  paid  3  33 

1,000         "  other  trade,  "  2  00 

1,000  worth  of  buggies,  carriages,  &c,  paid    10  00 
1,000         "        pianos  paid  7  50 

Such  are  some  of  the  inequalities  of  our  existing 
revenue  system.  We  ask  you,  can  it  be  defended  ? 
Can  any  consideration,  except  self-interest,  urge  a 
solitary  argument  in  favor  of  its  continuance?  To 
every  tax  payer  in  the  State  we  address  ourselves, 
and  appeal  to  them  for  an  answer  after  mature  de- 
liberation. It  is  the  system  that  we  war  against, 
and  for  the  reform  of  which  we  ask  your  earnest  co- 
operation. Commencing  in  1784,  it  has  continued 
to  the  present  time  essentially  the  same,  with  but 
few  of  its  defects  remedied.  In  1835.  its  distinctive 
feature  was,  without  reason,  and  without  its  being 
demanded  by  public  sentiment,  incorporated  in  our 
Constitution.  Other  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly 
can,  at  every  session,  "  be  touched  by  the  plastic 
hand  of  reformation,"  whilst  our  ''acts  to  increase 
the  revenue  of  the  State,"  must  remain  unchanged 
in  principle — cannot  be  perfected  either  by  the  ex- 
perience of  our  statesmen,  or  altered  to  suit  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  Treasury.  Can  it  be  for  a  moment 
supposed  that  time  has  disclosed  no  defects  in  our 
financial  system  ?  Is  it  believed  that  an  experience 
of  seventy  years  has  added  nothing  to  our  wisdom 
in  this  respect,  in  relation  to  one  of  the  most  neces- 
sary and  important  functions  of  government?  The 
system  might  have  been  admirably  suited  to  the 
times,  and  for  the  limited  purposes,  for  which  it  was 
adopted ;  yet  no  one  could  foresee  the  immense 
changes  that  were  to  take  place,  and  have  taken 
place,  since  its  adoption.  Common  sense  will  tell 
us  that  a  system  for  the  collection  of  $50,000  of  rev- 
enue in  1784,  will  not  answer  for  raising  $650,000 
in  1859 ;  and  it  is  worse  than  folly  to  think  its  fra- 
mers  ever  intended  it  should. 

Mr.  Brogden's  last  Report  discloses  another  fact 
well  worth}7  of  the  serious  consideration  and  atten- 
tion of  every  land  and  slave  owner  in  the  State.  It 
is,  that  the  amount  of  revenue  raised  for  County 
purposes,  assessed  exclusively  upon  land  and  polls, 


exceeded  the  sum  paid  to  the  State,  from  all  sozirces, 
by  the  Sheriffs.  Tn  1858,  the  County  taxes  amoun- 
ted to  $523,417.  The  State  taxes,  collected  by  the 
Sheriffs,  amounted  to  $502,612.  Are  land  and  polls 
the  only  property  and  subjects  directly  interested  in 
a  proper  administration  of  County  affairs  ?  If  any 
other  species  ot  property  receives  the  protection  of 
our  County  police,  and  is  benefitted  by  our  County 
regulations,  it  ought,  in  our  opinion,  to  contribute 
its  proper  proportion  to  the  support  necessary  to 
keep  up  that  police. 

We  think  the  foregoing  statements,  limited  as 
they  necessarily  are,  clearly  demonstrate  that  the 
principles  upon  which  is  based  our  existing  revenue 
system,  are  not  such  as  the  progress  of  events  and 
the  spirit  of  our  people  demand.  The  times  we  live 
in,  and  the  circumstances  surrounding  us,  demand 
a  change.  Is  a  change  practicable  ?  If  we  had  not 
the  experience  of  sister  States,  similar  to  our  own  in 
every  respect,  in  the  affirmative,  we  should  be  loath 
to  believe  that  the  wisdom  and  talent  of  our  public 
officers  and  legislators  could  not  so  reach  the  $500,- 
000,000  of  property  within  our  borders,  all  of  which 
we  think  to  be  legitimate  subjects  of  taxation,  as  to 
assess  on  each  dollar  thereof  its  proper  contribution 
for  the  support  of  the  government.  One-sixth  of 
one  per  cent,  of  that  amount  would  raise  $833,333 
per  annum — a  sum  amply  sufficient  for  the  admin- 
istration of  the  government  for  years  to  come,  unless 
unforeseen  contingencies  should  arise.  The  com- 
plexion of  our  federal  relations  at  this  time  is  of  such 
a  character  as  to  seriously  admonish  us  that  those 
contingencies  may  at  any  time  arise.  Within  the 
next  eighteen  months  it  may  become  necessary  to 
increase  the  revenue  a  hundred  fold  and  more,  to 
support  our  beloved  State  as  a  free,  and  sovereign, 
and  independent  nation.  Equalize  the  burden 
among  those  who  have  it  to  bear  by  just  and  equal 
laws,  and  whatever  amount  may  be  necessar}'  to 
preserve  the  good  credit  of  North-Carolina  in  any 
and  every  emergency,  will  be  willingly  given  by  our 
people.  Many  of  the  fathers  of  our  State  sacrificed 
their  all  in  the  days  of  '76.  We  believe  their  de- 
scendants, actuated  by  the  same  patriotic  spirit, 
would  be  equally  ready  to  pledge  "  their  lives,  their 
fortunes  and  their  most  sacred  honor"  to  preserve 
the  inestimable  rights  handed  down  to  them. 

We  have  thus  in  an  imperfect  manner  endeavored 
to  lay  honestly  before  you  the  reasons  that  induced 
us  to  for  n  this  Association,  and  the  objects  we  have 
for  so  doing.  To  the  sober  judgment  of  the  people 
of  our  State  we  appeal,  and  willingly  rest  the  recti- 
tude of  our  motives  with  the  decision  of  that  peo- 
ple. To  the  same  tribunal  we  also  as  willingly 
leave  the  fears  and  insinuations  of  those  who  aftect  to 
believe  this  movement  of  ours  to  be  fraught  with 
danger  and  calamity  ;  and  whose  zeal  and  interest 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  masses  have  heretofore 
been  universally  measured  by  the  success  or  failure 
of  their  own  petty  plans  of  self-aggrandizement. — 
Time  will  eventually  and  surely  disclose  the  selfish 
motives  governing  their  actions;  and  to  the  virtuous 
indignation  which  such  disclosure  will  as  surely 
consign  them,  we  are  content  to  leave  them. 


ADDRESS    OF    THE    'WAKE    COUNTY    WORKING-MEN  S    ASSOCIATION. 


*J 


protected,  its  equal  proportion  in  the  support  of 
that  government.  That,  as  dollars  and  cents  meas- 
ure the  value  of  every  species  of  property,  any 
privilege  or  exemption  bestowed  upon  the  same 
a  mount  of  dollars  and  cents  in  one  kind,  and  not 
upon  the  others,  is  unju  ;t,  and  granting  immuni- 
ties at  war  with  one  of  those  fundamental  princi- 
ples upon  which  is  based  our  whole  organic  law. 

It  is  not  our  object  to  repudiate  any  of  the  obli- 
gations heretofore  entered  into  by  the  State,  or  here- 
after to  be  contracted;  nor  do  we  in  any  manner 
desire  to  be  exempted  from  the  payment  of  our 
proper  share  of  the  public  revenue,  necessary  to 
preserve  sacredly  the  public  faith  and  credit.  If 
the  exigencies  of  the  treasury  require  us  to  pay  the 
sums  we  now  pay — aye,  should  it  become  necessary 
to  increase  the  amount  in  a  ratio  greater  than  it  has 
been  increased  since  the  year  1847,  we  will  pay  the 
same  cheerfully,  and  gladly,  if  we  can  but  be  satis- 
fied that  we  are  only  paying  our  proper  proportion, 
and  that  all  other  citizens  of  the  State  are  required 
to  do  the  same. 

It  is  not  our  object  to  call  in  question  the  inten- 
tions of  those  who  first  gave  to  North-Carolina  her 
present  revenue  system  ;  nor  to  arraign  before  the 
public  those  who,  adhering  to  the  unjust  principles 
upon  which  that  system  is  founded,  without  mate- 
rial modifications  in  the  several  tax  bills  heretofore 
passed,  have  inconsiderately,  we  are  willing  to  al- 
ldw,  grievously  oppressed  a  large  class  of  their  fel- 
low-citizens. The  former,  we  shall  ever  venerate 
for  their  patriotism,  their  many  sacrifices,  and  their 
unselfish  devotion  to  their  country's  good.  Xor  is 
our  respect  for  their  wisdom  lessened  in  the  small- 
est degree  by  our  desire  to  reform  a  financial  poli- 
cy, which,  to  say  the  fathers  of  our  State  intended 
to  be  for  all  time,  and  the  same  under  all  circum- 
stances, would  detract  much  from  that  foresight  and 
wisdom  we  have  been  taught  to  believe  peculiarly 
characterized  their  acts  of  legislation.  The  deter- 
mination of  our  legislators  in  the  recent  sessions  of 
the  General  Assembly,  to  pres2rve  the  faith  and 
credit  of  the  State  under  all  circumstances  and  at 
all  hazards,  we  cannot  too  much  admire ;  however 
widely  we  may  differ  as  to  the  sources  and  the 
manner  from  and  in  which  the  necessary  revenue 
for   that  object  can  be  best  and   most  easily  raised. 

It  is  not  our  object  to  advance  any  one  man,  or 
set  of  men ;  nor  will  our  appreciation  of  the  patri- 
otism and  integrity  of  any  man  be  affected  or  dis- 
turbed, should  he  honestly  entertain  opinions  con- 
trary to  our  own.  We  do  not  wish  to  see  this  re- 
form in  the  financial  policy  of  the  State, — absolute!}' 
necessary  we  believe  to  the  State's  prosperity  and 
advancement — mixed  up  in  any  way  with  party  poli- 
tics or  discussed  with  the  excitement  and  feeling 
that  partizan  measures  usually  are. 

Our  sole  aim  is,  and  our  constant  effort  shall  be, 
until  the  end  is  accomplished — disconnected  with  all 
other  considerations — a  Reform  in  the  Revenue 
System  of  our  State.  The  details  of  this  reform 
we  leave  to  those  whose  wisdom  and  experience 
will  no  doubt  give  satisfaction  to  all,  as  soon  as  the 
people,  in  their  sovereignty  shall  determine  that  a 
reform  sua-i-l   be  wade.     And  in  this  dibit,  w-y  beg 


the  honest  co-operation  of  every  one,  we  care  noi 
to  what  party  or  section  he  belongs,  who  entertains 
in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  the  change,  the  same 
views  with  onrselves.  We  ask  the  advocates  of  the 
existing  system  to  think  seriously  of  its  principles, 
to  discuss  its  merits,  and  above  all,  to  treat  it  in 
their  investigations  as  a  subject  of  paramount  im- 
portance. And  in  the  general  discussion  of  the 
merits  of  this  subject,  which  we  hope  will  be  had 
among  our  people,  if  that  which  we  believe  to  be 
practicable,  and  just,  and  urgently  called  for  by  our 
present  state  of  affairs,  should  be  shown  to  us  to  be 
either  impracticable,  or  unjust,  or  insufficient,  andoth- 
er  remedies  for  existing  evils  are  offered  the  better  to 
attain  what  we  so  earnestly  desire,  we  cheerfully 
promise  to  adopt  the  suggestions  proposed  for  that 
end.  We  are  not  so  wedded  to  any  particular  poli- 
cy in  reforming  our  present  system  as  to  hazard  the 
reform  itself  by  adhering  pertinaciously  to  any  one 
measure  or  plan,  however  much  we  may  be  con- 
vinced at  this  time  of  the  justness  of  our  own  views 
in  relation  thereto. 

A  histor}'  of  our  revenue  system,  bare  as  it  is  in 
its  details  of  interest,  until  the  year  1847,  conclu- 
sively to  our  minds  proves  this  f  ict.  That  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  taxes  collected  each  year,  and  which 
were  amply  sufficient  for  the  administration  of  our 
government,  was  so  small  that  but  little  interest 
was  felt  in  the  subject  of  taxation  by  those  whohad 
the  taxes  to  pay,  and  but  little  attention  bestowed 
by  our  legislators  as  to  the  source  from  which  the 
revenue  necessary  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
government  was  to  be  raised.  The  rates  on  the 
§100  worth  of  land,  to  wit :  6  cents,  and  20  cents 
on  the  poll,  remained  unaltered  for  oyer  thirty  years, 
and  was  not  increased  until  the  )'ear  1854.  From 
the  statements  made  by  the  Comptrollers,  we  see 
that  in  the  year  1822  the  aggregate  revenue  paid  by 
the  Sheriff's  into  the  treasury  was  (omitting  fractions) 
$(53,811;  of  which  real  estate  paid  $28,108;  polls, 
§25,411;  leaving  §10,292  to  be  paid  by  all  other 
taxable  subjects.  Wake  paid  into  the  treasury  in 
1822,  the  sum  of  $2,293.  In  1885,  the  year  the 
old  constitution  of  1776  was  amended  in  convention, 
and  the  restriction  unknown  to  that  first  constitu- 
tion was  placed  upon  the  General  Assembly  in  re- 
gard to  poll  tax,  the  aggregate  of  revenue  paid  by 
the  Sheriffs  into  the  treasury  was  §73,980;  real 
estate  paying  §24,846;  polls,  §28,016;  leaving 
§21,118  to  be  paid  by  other  subjects.  Wake  in 
1835,  paid  §2,457.  In  1847,  from  which  time  a 
new  era  may  be  said  to  have  commenced  in  our  fi- 
nancial history,  controlled  by  a  policy  totally  differ- 
ent from  that  governing  our  legislators  previous 
thereto,  there  was  paid  into  the  treasury  by  the 
Sheriffs,  und?r  the  tax  bill  of  1846,  the  sum  of 
§93,026;  real  estate  paying  §37,921  ;  polls,  §34,623, 
leaving  §20,482  to  be  paid  by  other  subjects.  In 
this  year,  Wake  paid  §3,056  into  the  treasury. — ■ 
Since  1847,  under  this  new  order  of  things,  our  leg- 
islators at  every  session  have  been  driven  to  many 
expedients,  and  have  spent  no  little  time  and  discus- 
sion in  adjusting  the  different  tax  bills  to  the  in- 
creasing demands  of  the  treasury.  In  1858  the 
imftcuw*  of  revoHUti  paid  by  bae  Skmffc  into  the 


ADDRESS    OF    THE    WAKE    COUNTY   WORKING-MEN  S   ASSOCIATION. 


treasury  was  §502,612  ;  real  estate  paying  $146,150; 
free  polls  §32,588 ;  black  polls  §75,462 ;  leaving 
§248,388  to  be  collected  from  other  sources.  In 
this  year  Wake  paid  §21,652.  In  1859  the  aggre- 
gate revenue  paid  b}'  the  Sheriffs  under  the  tax  bill 
of  1856  -'7  was  §607,813.  No  details  have  as  yet 
been  published.  In  185!)  Wake  pays  §25,004.  In 
the  foregoing  statement  the  tax  paid  on  bank  stock, 
and  those  derived  from  a  few  other  sources  amount- 
ing to  little,  have  not  been  included.  From  the 
foregoing  figures  it  is  seen  that  from  1822  to  1847, 
a  period  of  25  years,  there  was  but  little  increase 
in  the  aggregate  amount  of  revenue  paid  to  the 
Staje ;  and  that  increase  is  accounted  for  by  the 
natural  increase  in  the  number  of  taxable  polls,  and 
chiefly  from  the  increased  value  of  lands  under  the 
various  assessments  made  after  the  year  1836. 

In  the  few  material  changes  that  have  been  intro- 
duced in  our  revenue  system  since  the  year  1784,  it 
is  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  that  all  such  alterations 
have  been  made  so  far  as  possible  to  conform  to  an 
ad  valorem  principle.  And  we  have  been  unable  to 
find  any  evidence  that  the  restriction  incorporated 
in  the  amended  Constitution  of  1835,  so  materially 
altering  that  of  1776.  (which  has  been  styled  by 
some  as  "  incomparably  excellent"  and  in  this  par- 
ticular at  least,  we  think  justly  so,)  elicited  any  dis- 
cussion or  comment  prior  to  its  passage.  This  cir- 
cumstance, and  the  passage  of  this  restriction  on  the 
General  Assembly  in  regard  to  capitation  tax,  through 
the  Convention  of  1835,  in  silence,  precludes  any 
idea  of  its  being  considered  a  matter  of  even  second- 
ary importance,  or  of  its  having  been  one  of  those 
changes  in  our  organic  law  demanded  by  the  people 
at  that  particular  time  ;  even  if  the  small  amounts 
of  revenue  annually  collected  as  above  shown  did 
not  satisfactorily  do  so.  And,  further,  if  that  par- 
ticular species  of  property  owned  by  our  citizens, 
needed,  in  1835,  or  before,  the  peculiar  protection 
given  it,  it  is  unaccountably  strange  that  the  amen- 
ded Constitution  should  have  been  voted  against  by 
every  County  in  the  State  largely  interested  in  slave 
property.  The  truth  is,  the  Convention  of  1835 
met  for  other  purposes;  and  those  purposes  had  al- 
most incessantly  occupied  public  attention  for  years 
before  the  Convention  assembled.  And  when  the 
Convention  did  assemble,  the  changes  in  our  organic 
law,  which  had  b^en  fully  canvassed  before  the  peo- 
ple, weie  again  patiently  investigated  and  elaborate- 
ly discussed  by  delegates  remarkably  distinguished 
for  ability,  integrity  and  learning.  Yet,  with  all 
their  learning  and  experience,  it  was  beyond  their 
ken  to  foresee  the  many  and  great  changes  that  were 
to  take  place  within  the  twenty  3'ears  immediately 
to  follow.  If  any  one  had  announced  to  that  body 
that  the  public  debt  of  North-Carolina  in  1858,  in- 
curred in  developing  a  part  of  the  State's  wealth, 
and  in  enabling  us  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress 
of  those  around  us,  would  be  over  seven  millions  of 
dollars,  and  that  in  1859,  §650,000  would  be  requir- 
ed to  uphold  the  credit  of  the  State— to  men  of  those 
days,  and  to  us  we  hope,  "incomparably"  dear, — the 
speaker  would  have  been  considered  by  every  one, 
in  and  out  of  that  body,  as  crazy  beyond  redemption. 
Such  announcement  would  have  been  true,  however ; 


and  the  debt  must  still  increase,  if  the  plighted  faith 
of  the  State  is  to  be  reverenced  as  it  ever  should  be, 
and  as  it  always  has  heretofore  been. 

The  taxes  of  Wake  County  have  increased  over 
1,000  per  cent,  since  1835,  and  over  700  per  cent, 
since  1847.  The  amounts  paid  in  1847  were  literal- 
ly nominal,  and  but  little  concern  was  given  to  the 
sources  from  which  they  were  required.  Since  that 
time  the  amounts  paid  have  become  an  object  to 
each  and  every  citizen  of  the  county,  attracting,  )'ear 
after  year,  our  serious  attention  and  earnest  solici- 
tude. 

The  last  tax  bill  has  fully  convinced  us  of  the 
great  and  increasing  importance  of  this  subject,  and 
the  urgent  necessity  of  so  reforming  the  system  that 
the  burden  should  be  equally  borne.  Of  its  import- 
ance we  are  satisfied  that  you  are  also  convince! 
For  the  oppressive  inequality  and  unjustness  of  the 
S3rstem  we  invite  your  attention  to  the  following  il- 
lustrations from  the  last  published  report  from  the 
Comptroller  of  public  accounts. 

By  reference  to  Mr.  Brogden's  report  to  the  last 
General  Assembly,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  aggregate 
valuation  of  26,133,063  acres  of  land,  listed  under 
the  revenue  bill  of  1856-7  for  taxation,  was  §86,- 
075,771 — or  about  §3  29  per  acre.  This,  added  to 
the  valuation  of  town  property,  gives  a  total  of 
$97,842,481,  which  paid  into  the  State  Treasury,  as 
taxes  thereon,  the  sum  of  $146,150,  (omitting  frac- 
tions.) The  aggregate  of  taxes  paid  by  the  polls 
listed  at  the  same  time  was  $108,074,  of  which  black 
polls  paid  $75,462,  and  free  polls  §32,588.  The 
number  of  black  polls  given  in  was  150,925 — a  num- 
ber, by  the  way,  greatly  below  that  returned  in  the 
Census  of  1850  ;  according  to  which,  there  were  in 
the  State,  in  June,  1850,  about  164,000  taxable  black 
polls.  The  black  polls  returned  in  1858,  at  a  low 
valuation,  were  worth,  in  round  nnmbers,  §136,000,- 
000.  And  if  our  slave  population  has  increased  in 
the  same  ratio  since  1850  that  it  did  during  the  ten 
years  previous  thereto,  (and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  the  increase,  from  many  causes,  has  been 
much  greater,)  the  total  number  of  slaves  in  the 
State  at  this  time  would  be  338,548.  This  would 
leave  187,613  slaves  untaxed,  worth,  at  a  low  esti- 
mate, $112,567,800,  making  the  aggregate  valuation 
of  the  slave  property  in  the  State  $-248,O67;8O0.  This 
amount  of  property  paid  into  the  State  Treasury  in 
1858,  for  the  protection  it  enjoys,  which,  in  our 
opinion,  in  its  duplicate  capacity  of  property  and 
persons,  far  exceeds  that  thrown  around  any  other 
species  of  property  by  our  laws,  the  sum  of  $75,462, 
a  little  more  than  half  the  amount  paid  by  §97,- 
842,481  worth  of  real  estate.  Is  there  any  reason 
why  such  a  discrimination  should  be  made  between 
these  two  species  of  property  ?  Why  is  it  that  §1,000 
worth  of  land  should  pay,  as  it  did  under  the  tax 
bill  of  1856-7,  $1  50,  while  §1,000  worth  of  slave 
property  paid  only  50  cents  V  In  our  opinion  there 
is  no  just  and  good  reason  for  such  inequality  ;  if 
there  is,  we  have  yet  to  hear  it  advanced. 

Again:  The  tax  on  interest  received,  amounted  to 
$76,774.  This  sum  is  paid  on  about  $31,989,000  of 
money  loaned.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  our  system  re- 
quires $31,989,000  loaned,  or  otherwise  bearing  in- 


^^ 


r 


4 


